Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)
Tony Dungy's pastor, Ken Whitten, once told the story of how Dungy ministered very effectively to a teenage boy who was contemplating suicide, telling him, "I lost my own son in a tragic way, and I will do anything I can to help you..." The boys desperate father had called Dungy's office and asked if he could speak to the coach. The man had heard about Dungy's own son and wondered if the NFL coach could help. The result was that Coach Dungy agreed to try and eventually was able to turn the boy around. At the end of one of their conversations the young man asked him, "what team do you coach anyway?"
The fact that Dungy and Smith are the first two African American coaches to go head to head in Superbowl competition will be what gets all the press in the next two weeks. But another distinction worth noting is that both of these men are committed Christians whose coaching style is in stark contrast to the throwback coaching style of Parcells and Belichik. These guys are not the ones that explode and fume on the sidelines. You don't see them screaming at players or barking orders and demanding perfection and conformity. They don't demand that everyone around them fit into their control freak system. They are not vein popping short fused tyrants- these guys are what real men are supposed to look like. They are the kind of men who are terrific examples to our kids.
They love and believe in their teams and lead by example. For them it's not win at all costs, it's win at the game of life first, and occasionally the game on the field will work out as well.
USA today wrote this about Lovie Smith:
Lovie Smith, a self-described Christian with a calm temperament, seems
well-equipped to handle criticism. He has built a wealth of experience in rising from college position coach to NFL coordinator to the Bears' choice in 2004 to replace head coach Dick Jauron. The results have increased Smith's credibility. Since the start of last season, the Bears are 24-7, showing how well Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo have meshed as the key decision-makers. Angelo, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers personnel director when Smith broke into the NFL as the team's linebackers coach in 1996, raves about the coach's comportment in dealing with the inevitable adversities that strike NFL clubs. "All good leaders are strong internally," Angelo says. "They create sobriety during the storm. That's Lovie, and the art of his job. When there's a storm, he offers hope."
Dungy's Christian walk is well documented as well, like this March 2005 article on chatanooga.com:
Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy told an audience of more than 1,200 at the Convention Center on Tuesday night that his Christian walk is even more important than sports. "That is really the main element in my life. Athletics is
important, but without the Christian part it is empty," the famed coach said.
One of the things we will hear a lot about in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, is how these men are breaking new ground in eliminating the racial barrier for head coaches. Let's hope that in addition to that very important accomplishement, that their mature, calm and graceful coaching style will also break new ground in a sport that desperately needs it. Let's hope that the message for leaders (of any "sport") will be that to succeed in life you need not be a wild eyed control freak, that winning isn't necessarily everything, that winning with character is even more important.
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